Videos Stutter using Mac-Player, ok with other players

Plex Players Desktop Players
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Plex Media Server (v1.24.3.5033-7000)
Mac Player (v1.33.0.2444-a220eae4)
Plex Server is running from Synology DS920+ (DSM 7.0-41890)

I recently migrated and upgraded from a DS412+ with a fresh set of HDD’s.

I’m having an issue playing videos through the Plex for Mac client. This is the case for 2 macs at home I’m trying to play videos through.
From the app, clicking on play results in a spinning beachball, occasionally an offer to quit the “unresponsive app”, and finally starts playing the video with ++stutter, after a few minutes. During this playback, MacOS’s Activity Monitor shows 120%+ CPU usage. It drops to 3% after pausing.
Screen Shot 2021-09-19 at 11.10.58 PM

Watching videos on my LAN through Web-clinet, Apple TV client, Samsung TV client, Windows client and iOS devices seem to play fine.

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Try the test build:

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Thanks for the suggestion, but there was no change with the new version.

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Update: I downloaded the legacy Plex Media Player app which plays videos fine so far. Pity, since it’s more suitable for a TV screen. I’m still hoping for a solution for the regular Plex player app to work. Anyone?

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I’m having the same issue on my Mac Mini. Stutter/choppy playback. Works fine on eWindows, iPad, AppleTVs. I’ll try the old one, thanks for the tip.

Speaking of AppleTV, that app has it’s own issues lately too. I use that as my main app for OTA TV and videos I have. And on all 3 AppleTVs I have an issue where when I turn it on after a day or so, I can’t do anything. I have to try playing something, exiting all the way out, then trying to play again before anything works.

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I have download new version 1.35.1 but in my old mac 2009 i7 with amd video 16 gb ram it is unusable, interface very slow and the videos do not see you, Version 1.30.1.2115-81e1fc3f works well

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Same for me. Late 2011 MacBook Pro. Also the macbook is running on intel igpu only (Intel HD Graphics 3000 512 MB)

Was always running flawless until after Version 1.30.1.2115-81e1fc3f .
Whatever I tried I could not get Videos or Live TV & DVR to play or play smooth if they played.

With Version 1.30.1.2115-81e1fc3f everything works fine without stutters

Edit: Macbook Mid 2012 Retina Intel Hd Graphics 4000 and geforce gt 650m
Same behavior. Disabling automatic Graphics card switching in system preferences fixes this.

All of this is especially noticeable in Live TV & DVR with 1080p streams with around 12Mbit

Could it be an issue with intel hd graphics acceleration?

Link to working Version: https://downloads.plex.tv/plex-desktop/1.30.1.2115-81e1fc3f/macos/Plex-1.30.1.2115-81e1fc3f-x86_64.zip

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found out that hd3000 is on the GPUs acceleration blacklist in chromium for Mac… Issue 2076443002: Blacklist HD3000 on Mac - Code Review

Could it be that you were running chromium with the --ignore-gpu-blacklist Flag before? I assume that the Plex Mac app is an electron or somehow chromium based app. If not ignore my comment.

But could this be implemented as a setting in the client?

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Same problem here, stuttering on 4K original content on Plex Mac (1.35), working just fine on the older Plex Media Player App.
No issue on the Plex App on my Android TV.

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Same here with my macbook air 2013. Video stutters with 1.33 and 1.35. Last working version for me was Plex-1.31.1.2262-74fdc6b7-x86_64…

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After a few tinkering on the settings. I manage to get it to work fine now. I change the playback quality from Normal Quality to Low Quality. You can get to the settings in.

Settings → Player (Plex for Mac) → Video → Video Playback Quality → Low Quality

1 Like
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Thanks! that worked for me!

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There’s a few threads about this now…

Other threads:

Hopefully gets resolved. :slight_smile:

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